Behind the Scenes of Museum Interpretation: An Open Session with Debbie Harper

Here’s your chance to be a fly on the museum wall! We’re inviting our audience to sit in on a staff development workshop entitled “Excellence in Interpretation,” presented by Deborah V.R. Harper as the first step in our commitment to renewing the Webb Deane Stevens Museum visitor experience. During her extensive career at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Ms. Harper was part of a team that developed and presented this content at museums across the East Coast. Her session at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum includes exercises on analyzing objects from multiple points of view, discussion of museum audience research gathered regionally and internationally, and a primer on the techniques of decorative arts “connoisseurship,” a term with a broader definition than one might expect. Members of the public audience will observe passively during the workshop but are invited to join in an open Q&A dialogue at the end of the evening. Light refreshments will be provided during an intermission.

About Debbie Harper

Debbie Harper dedicated the majority of her career to the Winterthur Museum, beginning as a guide. As Senior Curator of Education, she supervised the guide staff, created the guided tours for the house, garden, and estate, and assisted in planning exhibitions. She co-curated the recent exhibition “Lady of the House: Ruth Wales du Pont.” For more than 25 years she designed and coordinated the museum’s annual holiday spectacle, “Yuletide at Winterthur.” In 2022 she joined the Delaware Historical Society as Curator of Education at the George Read II House & Gardens in New Castle, where she oversees the interpretive staff, leads school programs, and plans public offerings, and currently serves as Interim Director. She is a frequent speaker on a wide range of topics including the Colonial Revival, floral design, servitude in the 19th century, foodways and entertaining in early America, the antiques market in the first half of the 20th century, and especially the history of Christmas in America.